Why Kama Sutra Told Men to Talk to Parrots: Seema Anand on Love, Sex, & Dating

"In the Kama Sutra it says in section one, that talk to his Totas and Mainas for two hours. And you always wonder like, why would you have to talk to your Tota Maina cage for two hours? Personally, I think it was to teach men how to communicate," said author Seema Anand jokingly, as she spoke about why men are not great at communication.

Some background on this. My cultural knowledge here is lacking, if anyone can correct or clarify this, please do.

Tota are small green parrots and Maina (or Myna) are any of the starlings on the indian subcontinent. Maina are known for being chatty and able to replicate human speech. However, Tota and Maina are colloquial names for any pair bonded birds, especially pet love birds.

There are a number of old fables about the birds, including one where Tota and Maina were kept in separate cages even though their owner knew they were in love. He would only let out one at a time because they were good at finding water. During a drought, he was persuaded to let both birds out to try to find a new water source. When they found a buried resevior, the rock collapsed under them. When their master followed them to the resevior he found them dead, wrapped in each other's wings.